Cognitive computing is a term that has a broad scope and meaning within the context of computer science. Generally cognitive computing refers to the development of computer systems modeled after the human brain. Originally referred to as artificial intelligence (AI), researchers began to use cognitive computing to indicate that the science was designed to teach computers to think like a human mind, rather than developing an artificial system. This type of computing integrates technology and biology in an attempt to re-engineer the brain, one of the most efficient and effective computers on Earth.
Cognitive computing has its roots in the middle of the twentieth century, when computer companies first began to develop intelligent computer systems. Most of these systems were limited, however, because they could not learn from their experiences. Early artificial intelligence could be taught a set of parameters, but was not capable of making decisions for itself or intelligently analyzing a situation and coming up with a solution. In order to overcome such challenges, prominent figures such as Alan Turing proposed computing challenges in which a human and computer were indistinguishable at games such as chess and question and answer tasks. These challenges became known as the Turing Test, which is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. In an illustrative example, a human judge engages in natural language conversations with a human and a machine designed to generate performance indistinguishable from that of a human being. All participants are separated from one another. If the judge cannot reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine is said to have passed the Turing Test. The Turing Test does not check the ability to give the correct answer to questions. Instead, the Turing Test checks how closely the answer resembles typical human answers. The conversation is limited to a text-only channel such as a computer keyboard and screen so that the result is not dependent on the machine's ability to render words into audio. The Turing Test has become an important concept in the philosophy of AI.